Mobile Roundup: Native, video key to continued mobile growth

Two new reports are underlining key factors for the continued growth of mobile: that of video use, and the importance of native advertising.

First, experts with Flurry Analytics report that consumers are now spending nearly 5 hours per day with their smartphones. Flurry's State of Mobile report found that time spent in mobile is up 69% YoY, and that nearly 300 minutes are dedicated to mobile use each day.

The most time in-app is spent with music/entertainment (15%), but social apps rank second at 12%. Compare those with time spend on desktops, where the biggest share of time is spent with gaming (11%) and utilities (9%).

"While users continue to diversify their app usage and daily time spent moves between categories, one thing is certain: app developers, marketers and publishers have an incredibly captive audience. While attention spans continue to shrink, app developers continually create new and amazing ways to engage a global audience. Developers have created a medium that now commands close to a third of our waking hours. Now it's just up to us to continue to to build new and exciting app experiences," writes Flurry.

Meanwhile, researchers with Yahoo have found that native mobile may be the key for engagement on these devices. According to the State of Native report, native ads account for about one-third of the global ad demand on yahoo. They've also found that smartphone native ad growth is outpacing native desktop.